By the start of the 1990s the nuclear industry in many European countries was facing extinction. Most governments were planning to let the existing nuclear power plants run for the rest of their operating lives, possibly even to extend their lives a bit, but almost no-one was looking to build new nuclear reactors, or even to replace the existing ones when they were retired.
The major reason for this was public opposition, and the public opposition was mainly based on fear of accidents and on environmental concerns around radioactive releases from the plants and nuclear waste. The economics of nuclear power, especially compared to modern gas-fired power stations was also a factor.
Faced with this situation the nuclear industry must have seen the rising awareness of climate change as a godsend. They were one of the first industries to grab hold of the issue and try to exploit it. Climate change gave them something that seemed inconceivable only a few years earlier - a way for the nuclear industry to present itself as green!
It also, potentially, helped solve some of their economic problems - many countries started looking at "market solutions" to climate change, where large emitters of carbon dioxide were penalised financially and the nuclear industry was in there from the start, lobbying to ensure that they were classified as low/zero carbon and thus gain an economic advantage (or, at least, a smaller disadvantage) when compare with gas-fired power stations in particular.
The reality is that in this area, as in so many others over the years, the nuclear industry's claims are somewhat disingenuous.
